Panthers' season comes to an end in district tourney

     This wasn’t the way the Monticello High School boys golf season was supposed to end.

     The Panthers shot 347, finishing fifth in the Class 2A District Boys Golf Tournament Friday, May 19 at Pleasant Valley in Dike.

     Monticello was gunning for a top-two finish in the tournament and a trip to State. Instead, the Panthers finished 13 strokes behind the second and final qualifier, Union of LaPorte City, and wound up fifth overall.

     “It was a very disappointing loss for the team,” Tauke said. “The kids played this year with a lot of confidence, and had improved a ton.”

     Monticello had defeated Union in the sectional tournament the previous week.

     “So we know we were as good as a team that qualified for State. That’s what is hard,” Tauke said. “But they had a couple of scores in the 70s, and our best was an 83.”

     The weather was no help; there was heavy rain early and wet conditions throughout the day.

     “For six or seven holes, it was really nasty,” the coach said.

     The Panthers were hoping for a strong start, but found themselves well behind the leaders after nine holes.

     “We dug ourselves too much of a hole in the first nine. We did shoot better on the back (nine),” but we were just too far behind at that point to make a comeback,” Tauke said.

     Monticello was led by Justin Recker, who shot an 83. The Panthers did have three more scores in the 80s: an 87 from Hunter Kramer, 88 from Bo Kramer and 89 from Ty Kehoe, whose 40 on the front nine was one of the best nine-hole scores of the day.

     “We went into it with the right attitude, but we just didn’t have our best day,” the coach said.

     It was a tribute to the team, Tauke said, that when the Panthers arrived back in Monticello after the meet, every member of the team went and played another round on the Monticello course.

     “I was really proud of the season they had. They really worked hard on the sport,” he said.

     The tournament ended the season for the Panthers, who were 45-10 when tournament opponents are factored in.

     The team loses four seniors: Hunter Kramer, Daltyn Kramer, Tyler Blattner and Tom Dirks.

     “All four of them will be missed a lot,” Tauke said. “But we’re going to have a nice core of golfers to build around.”

May 17

Class 1A District Meet

(at Pleasant Valley, Dike)

TEAM CARDS

(State qualifiers in bold)

     1, New Hampton 318; 2, Union 334; 3, South Hamilton 345; 4, Lake Mills 347*; 5, Monticello 347; 6, Clarion-Goldfield-Dows 358; 7, North Fayette 365; 8, Aplington-Parkersburg 387.

MONTICELLO CARDS

     Justin Recker 41-42–83, Hunter Kramer 43-44–87, Bo Kramer 43-45–88, Ty Kehoe 40-49–89, Connor Lambert 50-43–93, Daltyn Kramer 53-46–99.